The new construction of the Rethebrücke is one of the most important infrastructure projects in the harbor. From 2015, the new bascule bridge will replace the Rethehubbrücke, built in 1934. The new Rethe Bridge will be the largest bascule bridge in Europe after completion.
Very impressive bascule bridge. When it opens or closes, it really goes in slow motion. If you are in a hurry, you have a problem. There is no faster way. A deceleration program is running here.
As a lifting bridge for road and rail traffic, the Rethe lifting bridge is part of the infrastructure in the Port of Hamburg, which is managed by the Hamburg Port Authority (HPA). It crosses the Rethe at the mouth in the Reiherstieg and connects the Hohe Schaar with Neuhof and the (former) eastern Freeport. Thus, it also ensures a mutual alternative between Köhlbrandbrücke and Kattwykbrücke. To replace the lift bridge, the new Rethe bascule bridge was built directly west of it, which was put into operation in 2016 for motor vehicle traffic and in 2017 for rail transport. Subsequently, the old lifting bridge will be demolished.
The Rethe bascule bridge is a combined railway and road bascule bridge in the port of Hamburg. It crosses the Rethe at its mouth in the Reiherstieg and connects the Hohe Schaar with Neuhof. This bascule bridge took over the tasks of the old Rethe lift bridge from 1934, which was dismantled in 2018 and is located directly to the east. The Rethe bascule bridge has a span of 104 meters and opens a fairway of 64 meters wide and unlimited height. It consists of two separately hydraulically movable two-wing bridges, 14 meters wide for the road and 10 meters wide for the railway. Opening takes about four minutes, closing twice as long. The level crossings along the road were eliminated by an overpass structure in the southern approach (raising the road carriageways). The design planning was carried out by the engineering firms GRASSL Beratende Ingenieure and Sellhorn Ingenieurgesellschaft. The construction was carried out by the "Arge Rethebrücke", a merger of Hochtief Solutions, Bilfinger F+Z, Bilfinger MCE and Waagner Biro. The new Rethe Bridge was built from June 2011 to the summer of 2016. It is currently the largest railway bascule bridge in the world. The costs for the new construction rose from 95 million to a good 173 million euros. On August 20, 2020, a bent hydraulic cylinder caused the folding mechanism of the car flap to fail.[6] Since September 21, the railway flap also had to be closed for at least two weeks to clean the hydraulic oil. An inquiry by the CDU revealed that the bridge had to be closed over 50 times between 2017 and 2020 due to technical faults, with three closures lasting several days.[8] During the closure to repair the hydraulic cylinder, the port authority HPA, which is responsible for the bridge, used this time to successfully resolve the last "teething problems" that are unavoidable with movable bridges - especially with this special unique two-wing, two-part bascule bridge ("double bascule bridge") - in the early stages of operation. The Rethe bascule bridge received - in addition to numerous other awards and prizes (AIV Building of the Year in Hamburg 2017, German Steel Construction Award 2018, European Steel Bridge Award 2018, German Design Award 2019, German Steel Construction Engineering Award 2019, Leipzig Bridge Construction Symposium 2020) - the German Bridge Construction Award 2020 in March 2021.